


with the girl to whom through the years she'd sing

by pigeonanarchy



Series: when the battle has done [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (In Space) - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: F/F, Gen, mostly cinders though, this whole series is just a trilogy of me being sad and learning how to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23541592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonanarchy/pseuds/pigeonanarchy
Summary: guess whatI'm also sad about cinders
Relationships: Cinders/Rose (Once Upon A Time In Space)
Series: when the battle has done [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669801
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	with the girl to whom through the years she'd sing

The screams and shouts from the battlefield mixed with the smoke rolling across the ground and formed what felt to Cinders like an almost physical barrier as she tried to move forward. It wasn’t enough to stop her, though, as her ring only turned more vividly red as she stepped over the dead left when the battle had shifted and towards her love.

Through the smoke she caught a glimpse of a small group of people heading in approximately the same direction as her. She couldn’t be sure, with the distance and the poor visibility and how they had both changed over their many years apart, but it looked like Snow, her love’s sister, was leading the group. Assuming that they would have a better idea of how to navigate the area, she changed her course slightly to meet up with them.

When she got nearer, one of the soldiers noticed a stranger walking towards them from where the fighting had been - wearing layers so as to be as unrecognizable as possible. They shouted for her to stop and drew their gun to defend themself, and the rest of the soldiers halted in case this stranger was a Rose Red they would need to fight off. Cinders thought, for a second, that this might be where she would die - so close to her Rose and yet still unable to reach her - until she noticed the spark of recognition in the expression of the person she thought might be Snow.

They had run into each other before, amidst all the fighting, but for short periods of time and so rarely that they were probably closer to strangers than friends, all things considered. Even still, through the scars and stress lines they had gained since they had last been in the same place at the same time, Snow and Cinders recognized each other and Snow told her soldiers to stand down.

Cinders knew she wasn’t a soldier - she had a single handgun that she had used all of five different times and that was it - but when Snow warned here that they were heading into danger she insisted on coming along. Snow was going to kill King Cole, and while Cinders wasn’t a fighter and wasn’t active in the resistance, she would still do what she could. If her search for Rose took her in a different direction, then she would leave, but until then she could spend time with the woman who was almost her sister.

They embraced for a moment, both aware that they might never get another chance, but did not pause long. Neither one could afford to wait, especially not here.

-

Cinders was trailing behind Snow’s group as they entered the tunnels, but after a couple minutes of her flinching at the echoed footsteps and looking over her shoulder, two of the soldiers dropped back to move her more towards the middle, where she’d be safer. Perhaps they were just irritated with how easily startled she was, perhaps they were worried for her in case anyone  _ did _ come up from behind - Cinders wasn’t sure and she didn’t see a reason to break the silence and ask.

-

When the threat did come, it was in the front of the group as they walked into a larger room and were faced with the King’s guards and the soldiers around her rushed forward to fight and she looked through the fighting she couldn’t contribute to and saw-

She looked over and saw-

Rose.

Her Rose, held in stasis off to the side of the room, and Cinders couldn’t tell if she was being stored or displayed or both. Her hair was so much longer and flowing around her in waves and she was- she was wearing her wedding dress. Torn, tattered, and covered in blood, but for a second Cinders was several decades in the past watching her almost wife torn from her before turning and tearing herself away from Rose. She didn’t even remember the fighting that separated them, and went to take a step forward.

She heard a crack and saw Rose  _ break, _ before she remembered the fight and the pod and the glass keeping Rose contained. Snow was there - had freed Rose - had died.

Snow was dead, and Rose was covered in blood, and Cinders and Rose saw each other and only each other and for a moment they found peace.

The next thing she was aware of, there was blood on her fist and blood on the floor and blood on her clothes and she was collapsed on the floor. There was blood on Rose’s body as she held it to her chest, and there was blood on her chest to, probably from Rose. All she could hear was her sobbing, and she figured she could just stay there - stay with what she had left of Rose until they could be together at last.

When she heard footsteps, echoing as someone walked towards her, her only thought was to hope that this new person would kill her, so that she could reunite with her Rose sooner.

**Author's Note:**

> the book is closed and the story told
> 
> \+ if anyone leaves a comment I think I will actually die


End file.
